Although interactive television (ITV) has been in an experimental mode for decades, few if any implementations have proven sufficiently successful to merit long-term acceptance. With the rapid advances in microprocessor speed, memory capacity and various related computer and broadcast audio and video technologies, including the advent of the Internet into the home, it might appear that the technical obstacles to the development of interactive television applications are diminishing.
While this may in part be the case, a number of significant barriers to interactive television application development remain. In particular, the lack of standards for deploying interactive content in a client-server communications environment has severely impeded the development of interactive television applications.
For example, ITV implementations typically insert specialized content into a broadcast program's “VBI” (vertical blanking interval, or metadata within the digital equivalent of the VBI for digital broadcasts) to trigger interaction between a program viewer and the purveyor of an interactive application (e.g., an advertiser, game provider or seller of various products or services). This content could be as simple as a URL that enables viewers to access Internet content related to a particular segment of the broadcast program. Or it could enable viewers to invoke and interact with a proprietary application, such as a game, or perhaps an informational or commercial service to research a related topic in greater depth, obtain a mortgage or other loan, or shop for related merchandise.
Prior ITV implementations typically rely on a scheduling mechanism, employing proprietary applications to manage interaction and communication with viewers. For example, such an application inserts specialized content “triggers” into a broadcast program at specific times known to the application. The application can then schedule intervals during which the viewer can interact synchronously with these triggers. Yet, if schedules change and content is broadcast at different times, it is extremely difficult to synchronize the insertion of these triggers with the appropriate segment of the broadcast content.
In addition to the overhead and inflexibility inherent in maintaining such triggering of interactive content, these applications also must handle client-server communications, including user authentication, presence detection and the exchange of messages for each particular interactive application.
Rather than leverage existing standards, these interactive applications have been either proprietary, requiring extensive development and integration within the environments of the broadcaster and interactive content provider, or relatively trivial, as is the case with simple URL triggers.
What is needed is a more standardized platform for the development of interactive applications that can leverage existing communications standards while still supporting complex applications that provide viewers with a rich interactive experience.